Classical music captures new audience

The British pianist James Rhodes is known as the bad boy of classical music.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The label "bad boy of classical music" is nothing new; anyone remember the violinist Nigel Kennedy? Well British pianist James Rhodes is the latest to attract the tag.

At his concerts there are no program notes, no dress codes and no rules, and his publicists claim he's doing for classical music what Jamie Oliver did for cooking.

Lisa Whitehead caught up with James Rhodes at the Melbourne Festival at the start of his first Australian tour.

LISA WHITEHEAD, REPORTER: The audience for the classical piano recital is a little different to the norm, attracted by the star of the sellout show who defiantly breaks all the rules.

JAMES RHODES, PIANIST: One of the things that I have a problem with with classical music is that you go to the concert, the guy walks on stage, gives you a quick bow, leaves, plays and then he f**** off home, and there's no real communication other than that.

LISA WHITEHEAD: The new bad boy of classical music, British pianist James Rhodes, shuns the uniform bow tie and tails and wears his tattoos with pride.

JAMES RHODES: This is gonna make me sound much more intelligent than I am, but - and I'm not - Bertrand Russell I think he said every great idea starts out with as a blasphemy. So the idea of wearing jeans and talking to the audience and playing the piano was - initially I think people said it's never gonna catch on.

LISA WHITEHEAD: In just a couple of years since he burst on the music scene, the 35-year-old's unconventional style has won him fans and accolades. His first album reached number one in the classical charts. He's the first classical act to be signed by rock label Warner and even has his own TV series.

JAMES RHODES: The thing that I find is that the presentation of classical music is quite - it makes it quite inaccessible to people. There seems to be this idea that you need to know how to pronounce the names of the composers, when to clap, what to wear, you know, you have to sit straight, you have to actively listen, concentrate on every note and nod in the right places. I mean, it's so pretentious and it's such - it's such rubbish.

LISA WHITEHEAD: Tonight he's kicking off his Australian tour at the Melbourne Recital Centre, but he also loves to perform his entirely classical repertoire at small, intimate venues and musical festivals, shrugging off convention and urging the audience to do the same.

JAMES RHODES: Now all bets are off. Wear what you want, clap when you want, chat with the audience, have the lighting kept to a minimum so you can make out with your date like at the cinema. You know, have a drink while you're listening and just relax and let it wash over you.

LISA WHITEHEAD: Many who come to see the pianist with the rock star attitude don't listen to the music of the great composers and have never been to a classical concert before.

JAMES RHODES: And one things people say sometimes - "Well, you know, I don't listen to classical music 'cause there are no lyrics," right. But then I think, well, it always tells a story. There's this great piece by Schumann, who - he fell in love with Clara who's to become his wife. He wrote something like 161 songs just for her. I think it's a little creepy, but it obviously worked 'cause they got married. And one of them is called Dedication, and it's one of the most beautiful - I mean, just the opening is so - it's like the perfect love song. He ended up alone, suicidal, penniless in an insane asylum where he died.

LISA WHITEHEAD: James Rhodes own story is marked by a trouble past. As a child he was sexually abused and battles with the booze, drugs and anorexia followed. He suffered a nervous breakdown and had several stints in psychiatric wards.

JAMES RHODES: I don't think there's anything unique about madness. I just think there's just a lot of people who don't like talking about it, and I think that's a real shame. So, I think it's important to give it a name, to give it a voice and not to dwell on it necessarily, but just to say, "Yeah, it's happened in some very difficult times and yet here I am, amazingly."

LISA WHITEHEAD: These days he's clean and sober, but admits to a love affair with coffee, cigarettes and Twitter.

JAMES RHODES: You know, Twitter is like - I always like to think of it as the kind of - the biggest and yet friendliest psychiatric ward in the kind of virtual world. When I get someone on Twitter saying to me, "I'd never heard the Bach piece Only Schacon (phonetic spelling) in my life; wouldn't even know how to spell it, and yet I heard you play it, I bought your CD, I'm now listening to it on the Tube to work every morning and it's amazing." And to me - I mean, that's worth a million dollars.

LISA WHITEHEAD: Surprisingly, James Rhodes didn't start playing seriously until he was 14 and after leaving school didn't play a note for 10 years. But a chance meeting in a cafe a few years ago with the man who would become his manager changed his life. He financed his first album and the rest is history.

JAMES RHODES: Have the last few years seemed surreal to you?

LISA WHITEHEAD: It's kind of like an Amy Winehouse in reverse kind of thing. You know, I did all the drugs and the alcohol and the madness and then, thank God, or I don't know how it worked, but, yeah, just a sequence of random events. Everything seemed to align. And I've gotta be careful not to sound too much like Deepak Chopra or anything, but everything's just seemed to slot into place.